Hello, everyone! Welcome to another chapter! I don't own rights to YuGiOh! 5Ds. Please enjoy!
Remove the Mask
Never Send a Fiend to do a Human's Job
Jack POV
I peered at Crow from over the rim of my drink as he spoke about a strange phone call he had received. "You were pranked, you miserable bloke." Placing my cup down on the coaster, I rolled my eyes as he began to protest. "You've been had, just admit it already!"
He slammed his fist on the table, rising to his feet and baring his fist at me. "It wasn't a prank!"
"If I recall correctly, that song was recently released, yes?" I grabbed another piece of veggie pizza. "Many people have been listening to it, I hear the student from the academy are taking quite a liking to it." It felt as if I being torn away from the room by an invisible vacuum, a deafening roar filling the air. My eyes narrowed as a giant winged thing came towards me. "Red Dragon Archfiend!" He roared in response as I landed on his back. "Where are we going?"
His wings flapped strongly, increasing our speed. I could vaguely sense the feeling that he was unamused. A chuckle rose in my chest as he conjured an image of Crow and Yusei in my mind. In other words, he was telling me that they were pathetic.
"Why don't we show them what an archfiend can do?" I shouted, a smirk finding its way onto my face. The police station came into view and my smirk could only grow. "So you want a crack at Trudge now, do you?"
Crow POV
"That..." I steamed, plopping back into my chair as he stormed out. Sometimes I wondered if he really cared about anyone other than himself... Shaking my head, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. It didn't make any sense, why would someone call and have that song in particular play on some creepy old piano? And why was the caller ID "Unknown"? I tossed my phone to Yusei. "Think you could try to trace it?"
He nodded, pulling out his own phone and connecting it with mine via a random cord that he pulled from his pocket. His eyes darted across the screen as numbers began to appear. "I can't pinpoint it's exact location, but it looks like it came from a payphone towards the center part of town."
I threw my hands up into the air. "Oh, that's just great! There's a MILLION payphones in the center of town!"
An apologetic look came over his face. "Sorry, but it's the best that I could do." He blinked in surprise as it began to vibrate. Holding it up, he showed "Unknown Caller ID" flash across the screen. "You should answer, that way I can witness the call myself."
I nodded, catching it as he tossed it to me and pressed the talk button as well as the speaker. "Hello?" A lump formed in my throat as the creepy piano began to play. "You were playing Whisper, right?" The only answer I received was the music's eerie trills. There was something different this time though, the humming sounded more...feminine. The humming suddenly stopped, the piano music fading into silence. "Hello?" I held the phone at arm's length as a roar sounded, the speaker cracking in and out from the strain. "What in the-" There was another roar, only this one was a bit on the softer side, almost growl-like before it became dominated by static. I raised an eyebrow at Yusei as he hooked the phone back to his own and received the most confused look I have EVER seen on his face. "Yus?"
"This doesn't make any sense," he struggled for words as his free hand struggling between motioning every so often at the phone and raking through his hair. "There's no signal too trace! It's as if it up and disappeared!"
Jack POV
"Are you telling me that you have nothing on the underground duelists that have been hospitalized?" I all but shouted. "What kind of Security personnel are you?" My lips tilted into a smirk as the faint outline of a mini-sized Red Dragon Archfiend swept past, causing the papers on Trudge's desk to fly everywhere. He was enjoying this as much as I am, I thought as he paused in front of me with a paper between his chops. "Hello, what's this?"
"Give that back!" Trudge went to snatch it from my hand, but Archfiend landed on his outstretched arm and dug his claws into the dark skin, earning a winch from the big man. "What in the-"
I held a hand up, cutting him off. "According to this, many of the duelists have been released from critical care recently. Maybe I should go and pay them a visit." Archfiend jumped to my shoulder, where it glared at Trudge as he snatched the paper back. "Thank you for your help, Trudge, I'll see you around." I waved, turning and walking out.
...
"I'm going to ask you again," I rubbed my temple as the man on the bed writhed and groaned, Archfiend giving me one of the most self satisfied expressions that I had ever seen on him as he kneaded the poor bastard's exposed chest. "Who attacked you?" His answer was muffled, due to the wrapping that concealed part of his head. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you," Archfiend dug his claws in more. "What was that?"
"Mskph! Mhmm phm HMYPH!"
"A masked duelist?"
"Mph!"
"Male or female?"
"Phm~" He shrugged his shoulders to the best of his abilities.
I narrowed my eyes and Archfiend slowly drug a claw down the man's chest. "Can you think of anything else?"
He nearly sat upright as his face scrunched with pain from Archfiend's onslaught. "MMMMMMMPH! Hmh mhmph hmmmn hmph HMPH!"
"Thank you so much for your cooperation." I nodded to Archfiend, who leaped off the man's chest and deftly landed on my shoulder as I left the room. " What do you think?" Archfiend huffed, a faint rumble coming from his chest. "I hear you, mate."
...
"It was a man, definitely a man," the mummy-like woman in the wheelchair answered without a second hesitation. "The aggression that they showed can only belong to a man."
Archfiend hovered over her head, his eyes just begging for me to let him do his thing. I rubbed my chin in thought. "How aggressive where they?" She flailed her arms, winching at every single motion, as she described their harsh language. "Although," I raised an eyebrow as she giggled. "They were very graceful in their movements."
...
"It was a masked woman!" The man all but screamed as Archfeind dug his claws into his fleshy thighs. "She was wearing a white mask and a dark red cloak!"
"How could you tell that it was a woman?" My eyes narrowed. "Everyone else I have talked to has been unable to tell me their gender, though many of them have suspicions."
His lips lifted hesitantly. "Only women wear Beyonce Heat."
My nose scrunched. "It's very possible that they were male trying to disguise themselves as a woman."
He shrugged. "Best smelling man I ever met, then."
...
I bolted down the hallway as a scream came from one of the rooms. "Archfiend!" He had a woman by the hair and was attempting to pull her from the bed. I removed her dark hair from his claws, giving him a stern look. "My apologies, miss."
She gave me a strange look as she massaged her scalp. "That was really weird, I could have sworn that something was trying to take me into the other realm." Archfiend froze, its eyes studying the girl up and down as she glanced around the room. "Be gone, Monster Spirit!"
Yusei POV
I raised an eyebrow as Jack all but fell into the giant suede lounge chair. "Rough day?" He pointed up to the ceiling wordlessly as he sipped away at his Blue Eyes coffee. Realization hit me like a brick wall. "Was it Red Dragon Archfiend?" He nodded. I shifted to the edge of the sofa, placing the file that I had been reading on the table. "What did he do?"
"Well, we paid a visit to Trudge's office, found a list of the victims, asked them a couple of questions," Jack counted off on his fingers, his eyes never leaving ceiling. "but didn't gather any useful information."
"So that's what all those phone calls were about!" I raked my hands through my hair. "Jack, the hospital was calling non-stop about a tall blond man harassing some of the patients!"
He shrugged. "It was Archfiend's idea. When he wants to do something, nothing will stop him."
Well? What do you think? Let me know in the comments!